Insulating mat



Dec. 22, 1931. I c, H, x 1,837,422

INSULATING MAT Filed Dec. 6, 1929 INVENTOR.

BY wag/ zdMV A TTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 22, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES E. IJ IQOF MADISON, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO SPRAYO-FLAKE COMPANY,

' OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN msnmrme m'r Application filed December 6, 1929. Serial No. 412,035.

, This invention relates to improvements in insulating mats and has particular reference to an insulating mat which is adapted to be fabricated directly upon the surface to be insulated and is not only water proof and elastic but constitutes an excellent plaster base thereby making thermal insulation moreeasily possible in structures of masonry than is now the case.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 represents a fragmentary eleva-V tion showing the surface of a mat embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section through a wall showing a mat of this invention interposed between a frame member and a plaster finish.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout both views.

In general all of the more effective types of thermal and sound insulation have heretofore been applied between two spaced structural elements. In frame buildings insulating material has been used between the outer wall and the lath by which the plaster is supported. In buildings having walls of masonry it has been customary to use furring strips to supportthe lath and any insulation employed has been interposed between the lath and the masonry. This invention contemplates a form of insulating mat which has a high heat insulating and thermal insulating quality and which may either be used between structural elements as heretofore, or may itself be exposed, or may itself constitute a part of the building structure, as is the case when it is -used as a plaster base.

In accordancewith this inventiona water proof or substantially water proof liquid adhesive is used as a binder for irregular fibrous particles which are preferabfy of innumerable forms and sizes and disposed heterogeneously at innumerable angles, whereby to contact with other particles only at their corners and to form voids between particles which supplement the insulating value of the fibrous particles themselves.

While it is broadly immaterial what proc ess is employed to assemble an insulating mat. having the desired characteristics herein enumerated, I prefer to .use the process de- .scribed in the patent to Wenzel and Janisch,

Number 1,718,507, dated June 25, 1929. In accordance with this patent the fibrous particles which preferably comprise irregular fragments of some such sheet material as pa-' per or the like, are. pneumatically projected upon the wall surface. to be insulated and while in free air are caused to pass through a spray of adhesive substance which is so finely divided that it merely coats the particles superficially and renders them superficially adhesive to the wall and toeach other. By this means a coating is built up on the wall to any desired thickness and the coating will have an unusually high resistance to the passage of heatdue to the irregularity of the particles, the multiplicity ofangles at which they lodge and their own high insulating value. In addition to paper other irregular particles of grains, leaves, stocks, husks and other wood and vegetable products, whether natural or fabricated, may be employed. It is also possibleto use materials which are not fibrous although in so doing the high insulating value inherent in fibrous materials is lost.

The adhesive bonding material employed is preferably an emulsion of asphalt in water or a compound of such emulsion with other substances. I have found it advantageous to use a mixture of asphalt emulsion with sodium silicate, which mixture has important advantages enumerated in a companion application to be filed herewith vand which briefly consist in speedy setting, strength, economy, ease of handling and distinctive texture. The exact proportions are unimportant.

Used on a wooden partition or other wall, such as is shown at 5 in Figure 2, the mat generically designated at 6 not only insulates such wall thermally and acoustically but serves as a base for the layer of plaster 7 which is applied over a finish coating 8 of the adhesive or bonding material and the rigidity of which will not be destroyed by movement of the partition 5 due to expansion and contraction, moisture absorption or the slight shifting of parts.

The asphaltic emulsion, whether used alone or in combination with sodium silicate, retains a certain degree of elasticity which permits the above described movement of' the wooden structure 5 without cracking the plaster coat at 7. The innumerable paper or other fibrous particles shown at 9 are in themselves flexible and are coated, as aboveexplained, only superficially with the adhesive so that the are free to shift slowly under pressure. he result is a degree of flexibility which does not at all destroy the utility of the mat as a plaster base but on the contrary performs an unusual function in preventing the cracking-of plaster.

The finish coating 8 may be omitted if desired. Its function is to increase the resistance of the surface of the mat to penetration of water from the plaster at the time the plaster is applied. Although all the particles comprising the mat have passed through the spray ofwater proof binder, they are nevertheless so lightly coated that the application of the finish coat 8 is desirable. It is a very thin coating preferably made by spraying with the asphaltic emulsion or some equiva-' lent binder. The showing in the drawing of the completed mat of the thickness of this coating in proportion to the thickness of the mat has necessarily been exa gerated to a very considerable degree. Before the finish coat is applied the mat will, notwithstanding the spray through which the particles have passed, still have, to a considerable degree, the color of the fibrous particles used. A

The texture of the mat 6 clearl appears in Figure -1 This texture results om the variety (if angles at which the pneumatically pro ected particles comprising the mat are lodged: Because of this inherently rough and irregular surface it is unnecessary to add ma terials to the coating of asphaltum at 8 to make possible the adherence of plaster thereto. The coating 8 is so thin that it does not destroy the already existing irregularity of surface of the mat. Thus the plaster coat 7 bonds perfectly with the completed mat.

I claim:

1. A mat for the purposes described, comprising small particles of various sizes and shapes adhesively joined to each other and to a-supporting surface, the surface of such mat havlng a highly irregular form attributable to the positions of the particles comprising the mat and being water proof whereby to be adapted to receive a plaster coat.

2. A mat for the purposes described, comprising a multitude of irregular particles disposed at a variety of angles, and a water proof adhesive joining said particles at adjacent points, said mat having a highly irregular substantially water proof surface.

3. Aninsulating mat comprising fibrous particles of irregular form and a water proof binder uniting said particles and rendering said particles individually and collectively subtantially water proof.

4. An insulating mat comprising fibrous particles of irregular form disposed at a variety of angles with respect to each other, a binder uniting said'particles and a substantially water proof coating for the surface of said mat sufficiently thick to be substantially continuous on said surface and sufficiently thin to partake of the irregularity occasioned by the positionsof the individual particles constituting the met.

-5. The combination with a wall and a finish coat, of a structural element directly bonded with said wall and to which said finish coat is directly bonded, said element comprising an insulatin mat composed of irregularly placed partic es providing a plurality of air spaces between the particles and providing also an irregular surface with which said finish is bonded.

6. The combination with a wall and a finish coat, of a structural element connected with said wall and to which said finish coat is directly bonded, said element comprising an insulating mat, composed of irregular particles adhesively joined to each other in a 100 variety of positions whereby to provide space therebetween.

'7. The combination with a wall and a finish coat, of a structural element connected with said wall and to which said finish coat is 105 directly bonded, said element comprising an insulating mat, said mat comprising irregular particles in various positions adhesively joined to each other and to said wall.

8. The combination with a wall and a finish coat, of a structural element connected with said wall and to which said finish coat is directly bonded, said element comprising an insulating mat, said mat comprising irregular partlcles of fibrous sheet material and 115 a substanti lly water proof binder uniting said partic es in a variety of positions with each other and with said wall whereby to provide an irregular surface with which said finish coat is adapted to bond.

9. An insulating mat comprising heterogeneously disposed fibrous particles and a substantially water proof binder including asphaltum connecting said particles with each other and presenting a highly irregular and 125 substantially water proof surface.

10. An insulating mat comprising irregular paper fragments disposed at a variety of angles, a' flexible and substantially water proof asphaltic binder connecting said par- 130 ticles and a relatively hard finish coat bonded to the substantially water proof surfaces of exposed irregularly placed particles.

11. The combination with a wall structure having portions subject to displacement and change of position, of a hard finish coat supported from said portions and an intervening flexible insulating mat comprising fibrous particles and a flexible and substantially water proof binder connecting said particles in the variety of positions to each other and to said wall, said finish coat bein bonded to the irregular surface presented y said mat.

CHARLES FIX. 

